CHAPTER 8: COMPARISONS – OTHER FORMS OF SURVEILLANCE
codes of practice have been issued in relation to CCTV.24 PFA 2012 also established
a Surveillance Camera Commissioner to oversee compliance with that Code and to
review it from time to time. Where security companies operate cameras, whether on
behalf of the public or private sector, the operators require a licence from the Security
Industry Authority.25
8.24.
Visitors from abroad are often struck by the quantity of CCTV cameras on British
streets. Most of those whose activities are recorded are, of course, entirely innocent.
Yet the cameras are not generally speaking a focus for resentment. CCTV evidence
is routinely presented in certain types of criminal trial (e.g. for town centre assaults).26
8.25.
Police forces also make increasing use of helicopters and drones that may carry
cameras:
(a) RIPA and its codes of practice apply to any directed surveillance, whether it is
carried out with the assistance of a surveillance device or other equipment,
including aerial surveillance by helicopter or by use of remotely piloted aircraft
systems (drones).
(b) Beyond directed surveillance, the use of airborne devices for surveillance is
governed by regulations set by the Civil Aviation Authority, and is also subject to
requirements on regulation of surveillance cameras under PFA 2012, along with
DPA 1998 and the RIPA framework.
Use of bulk personal data
8.26.
The ISC Privacy and Security Report revealed for the first time that the security and
intelligence agencies make use of bulk personal data sets derived from information
held by other public and private sector bodies.27 The dealings of individuals with
Government and non-governmental bodies are typically recorded in electronic
databases. Those databases (which include passport application data) may be easily
searched in order to obtain information about a particular individual or groups of
individuals. Following this disclosure, the ISC recommended that the exercise of this
power be formally overseen by the ISCommr and that recommendation was promptly
accepted by the Prime Minister.28
8.27.
There are a number of legal “gateways” under which data can be passed from the
organisation which has collected it to another part of government.29 This may be done
24
25
26
27
28
29
“In the Picture: A data protection code of practice for surveillance cameras and personal information”
was issued by the Information Commissioner’s Office [ICO] under DPA 1998. It sets out how individuals’
privacy should be protected by the operators of surveillance cameras. The Surveillance Camera Code
of Practice is issued under PFA 2012. It sets out Guiding Principles to govern the use of CCTV.
Private Security Industry Act 2001.
The presence of cameras is so commonplace that I have known a jury to ask, in such a case, why no
CCTV material was put in evidence.
ISC Privacy and Security Report, Chapter 7.
Written ministerial statement by the Prime Minister, Reports relating to the Security, Intelligence and
Law Enforcement Agencies, and statutory direction to the Intelligence Services Commissioner, (12
March 2015).
See, e.g., exemptions from the data protection principles set out in DPA 1998 Part IV, ISA 1994 s2
and SSA 1989 s2.
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